One story about from Cuba. (weird "favors"?)

[R_P_A_S]

I spent the last 7 days in Havana, Cuba walking. I only took a cab once. I was out everyday from 10am till about 11pm sometimes past 2am. Walking, observing and just taking it all in. I didn't really feel like a tourist. I didn't stay at hotel or hung out too much or for too long at all the tourist traps and attractions. I got lost more than a few times and wound up in some pretty fucked up parts of Havana, parts where people look at you and are asking them selves "what the fuck is he doing here?" I did get a bit nervous at times. No matter where I went people will yell "Mexicano" Yes indeed that's my nationality. I couldn't really blend it and just stood out.

I gotta admit, I grew very frustrated with my personal experience with the jineteros or just random young people on the street. How they touched my shoulder, their chest and then mine how they would try to tell me we were friends after just 5 seconds of knowing each other. How annoying and persistent they were to follow me and continue to convinced me of our friendship and its potential.. It made me totally uncomfortable this were mannerism I'd never encounter, just all over one's comfort zone.

If I were in any other latin american country or even in most poor U.S. inner city neighborhoods, lets be honest chances are high that I could had been robbed and possibly killed. I can't really get too touchy about the Cubans nagging me. So I let it not get to me.. But it was just too much to bear.

One thing is the typical jinetero in Havana, offering you girls, cheap cigars, to exchange my money and finally to take me to the "good spots" In return they want me to give them some money for their advice and/or to buy them some drinks. I encounter 6 to 8 of these guys on the street, But there was 3 young guys, who weren't Jineteros just average young cubans that stood out because of the great lengths they went through and what they expected from me.

One particular guy accidently bumped into me. I was walking pretty fast through his neighborhood because I felt a bit freaked out since It was more rough looking than the others, it wasn't near downtown Havana and I knew i was lost and I was trying to get the hell out of there as people were looking at me and pointing me out with their heads to others. This guy was coming out of his house and we bumped into each other, I apologized and I kept walking but he ran over towards me and asked me if I was from Mexico,
I said politely yes! and he walked along with me and was asking me to slow down because he wanted to talk to me..

"i don't really need anything my friend, im in a hurry" i told him..

"why do you assume all cubans are the same? I'm not trying to ask you for anything, I just never met anyone from mexico and I wanted to talk to you." he said.

I felt a bit bad and I turn around and extended my hand

"look, forgive me I wasn't trying to be rude." he shook my hand and I said,

"I'm just trying to get to the bus station to buy a ticket."

"ah! well I know a short cut! let me take you! lets go this way"

I then told him. "no thank you!" and kept walking and he yelled

"but wait! don't leave, come back I wanna ask you something"

10 minutes later Im still walking and a bit lost, and suddenly I spot it! the monument to Jose Marti! i knew then which way to go, since the bus station is near. Then out of nowhere I hear and out of breath shout

"uh! Mexicano! Mexicano! wait up!"

The same fucking guy!!!

"boy do you walk fast! I never met anyone that walked as fast as you man! you got me following you for blocks! Look I need a favor"

"hey I didn't ask you to follow me!"

then he tells me;
"I had to go in my house and tell my mom I met a mexican and that we can finally get someone to mail a letter for us, to Guadalajara! please come back with me so you can meet my mom and do us that favor to mail our letter"

I was like.. ok????? how fucking random, these people come up with the most random shit to tell a stranger it was just mind boggling to me!

I couldn't figure out how to get rid of him, "can't you just mail it your self? they have post office here" He told me if they do it... It will never get there.

"look, im sorry I really can't help you and I have to get to the bus station"
he continue to follow me for an other 5 blocks or so..

"well you got me all tired man! I was running after you, at least give me a dollar for my trouble or I know a place we can go grab a drink, have you been to this, or that spot?"

I'm like what the fuck??? "first of all I never told you to chase me! sorry!"

I extended my hand once more and told him, "sorry, but good bye", He looked at me pretty pissed off by now we were near a major interception, more people and traffic i felt safer and he gave me a limp ass hand shake and walk off frustrated.

Believe when i tell you guys I sympathize and I understand the economic and political situation in Cuba. I'm trying my hardest to understand this behavior. I don't want to dismiss it because I encounter this numerous times and It's just freaky to me. At least they aren't killing people, or robbing them, they are just trying to get some change from tourist but the extents they go through to pull a few dollars are just annoying as shit and it made me really uncomfortable.

I'm sharing this story with you guys so I can get some opinions in what I believe it's a new breed of lying and deception? but that sound so fucked up. Did he mean any harm? are am I just so used to people wanting to fuck me over in our society? Our worlds are definitely different and they collided.

believe me I have more of this. even crazier ones.

[Davie zepeda]

Hey tell more this is funny .But Cubans are just trying to get the new products now remember the computers and shit but they want to speed the process up by bumming for money .

[R_P_A_S]

Hey tell more this is funny .But Cubans are just trying to get the new products now remember the computers and shit but they want to speed the process up by bumming for money .

? i don't think is funny

[bayano]

i went through it when i went many years ago. i think its a combination of mistakes by the cuban state- holding wages low and making it hard to get certain products (harder than it needs to be, embargo notwithstanding).

and it comes from the rise in capitalism created by tourism, something im sure we've all noticed or read about or seen a movie about. people move into the tourism industry from professional jobs bcuz its more money, everyone wants a tip, everyone wants something. in some ways, what they want is often so little, i was willing to give in to hustlers to (in my mind) 'support the cuban economy'.

but then again, ure right. we have these same people in panama (and everywhere else, including the usa), and we also have violent robbers who rob from other poor folks. so theres definitely something going down in cuba that needs work, but in context it doesnt look quite as bad.

one trick we used (again, a while back) was to speak russian or spanish with russian accents. by then, the russians that were coming to cuba didnt have much money and didnt have US dollars, so the jineteros or hustlers would lay off

[Leo]

Believe when i tell you guys I sympathize and I understand the economic and political situation in Cuba. I'm trying my hardest to understand this behavior. I don't want to dismiss it because I encounter this numerous times and It's just freaky to me.

I think it is a very natural behavior you can face whenever you go in the world, I don't see what's special about it.

[R_P_A_S]

I think it is a very natural behavior you can face whenever you go in the world, I don't see what's special about it.

is normal behavior to stalk a complete stranger so he can mail a letter for you??? And to top it off ask the stranger for money for the trouble of following him? OK

[Joe Hill's Ghost]

is normal behavior to stalk a complete stranger so he can mail a letter for you??? And to top it off ask the stranger for money for the trouble of following him? OK

Yeah that's not normal, in any area, where I'm from. People mind their own business, though we're loyal to a T once we get to know ya.

[R_P_A_S]

i also think it has a lot to do with being exposed to the shit we are exposed under our society. perhaps he's naive.. he possibly believes that a complete stranger can be trusted with something as delicate as a letter... or maybe its a phony scam to get money from me?

but thats what Im talking about. Cubans are pretty lame at tricking tourist. they come off to strong and not very convincing.. it goes again with the fact that they don't know greed and hustle like we do in crime ridden capitalist countries.

it could be.. dunno. it can be view both ways.

[A New Era]

That's pretty common in Cuba, RPAS. And people often say "oh I can do this and this to you, no money, just being nice", and then afterwards they say "one dollar! one dollar! At least give me pesos!"

[Leo]

is normal behavior to stalk a complete stranger so he can mail a letter for you??? And to top it off ask the stranger for money for the trouble of following him? OK

It is generally common for people to stalk foreigners and ask money from them, since it is generally assumed that foreigners are richer, or at least carrying more money in their pocket than a normal local would, or assuming that they are stupid or ignorant because they are foreigners, so that they are easy to trick.

It is due to lots of reasons, one which being some sort of nationalist dehumanization and stereotyping of the foreigner, which is a common trait of all nationalist (and thus capitalist) regimes.

And of course just like a capitalist factory owner wouldn't be doing it in another country, I wouldn't expect a well-fed capitalist party bureaucrat to do it in Cuba, so it is again something about class.

[BIG BROTHER]

Well man, it kinda sucks things went like that. But yea i guess most Cubans think tourists are all rich people with convertibles and shit.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

What's up with all these anecdotal stories? Can you at least limit them to one post?

There's nothing particularly odd about someone asking you to mail something for them... or do other favors.

You come from an imperialist country and enjoy a much better standard of living.

If you go to the Dominican Republic people ask you if they can have your shoes, hat, whatever. Disabled people line the streets of Santiago begging for pieces of food or a few pesos.

Hell, you can't ride a train in New York or even walk down the street without someone asking you for something.. a cigarette, a dollar, something to eat, etc.

In Cuba there are jineteros in the tourist areas. As I said before, that's an unfortunate result of tourism. But it's hardly like all Cubans are greedy hustlers that spend all their time begging tourists for money. It's also the case that a lot of Cubans are just very friendly and wouldn't take something from you if you offered... As this tourism (http://www.cubagrouptour.com/information/cuba/jineteros/) company's site says:

"Refreshingly a majority of Cubans aren’t in this game and feel extremely ashamed about their fellow compatriots that are. Like people everywhere, they would feel very uncomfortable about asking for money from somebody they have just met. Most Cubans are very honest and generous people who are delighted to meet a foreigner with no interest in their money at all."

[R_P_A_S]

It is generally common for people to stalk foreigners and ask money from them, since it is generally assumed that foreigners are richer, or at least carrying more money in their pocket than a normal local would, or assuming that they are stupid or ignorant because they are foreigners, so that they are easy to trick.

It is due to lots of reasons, one which being some sort of nationalist dehumanization and stereotyping of the foreigner, which is a common trait of all nationalist (and thus capitalist) regimes.

And of course just like a capitalist factory owner wouldn't be doing it in another country, I wouldn't expect a well-fed capitalist party bureaucrat to do it in Cuba, so it is again something about class.

homie, I been to Mexico and Guatemala.. I grew up in Mexico for starters.. people are not as persistent as in Cuba when they beg for money. and they sure as hell don't ask you to mail them letters!

BUT they the good thing about Cuba is that they are LESS likely to mug you and kill you for your shoes.. They will do that in Mexico in a heart beat. heck. twice I been held at knife point in mexico for my jacket and shoes.

[R_P_A_S]

What's up with all these anecdotal stories? Can you at least limit them to one post?

There's nothing particularly odd about someone asking you to mail something for them... or do other favors.

You come from an imperialist country and enjoy a much better standard of living.

If you go to the Dominican Republic people ask you if they can have your shoes, hat, whatever. Disabled people line the streets of Santiago begging for pieces of food or a few pesos.

Hell, you can't ride a train in New York or even walk down the street without someone asking you for something.. a cigarette, a dollar, something to eat, etc.

In Cuba there are jineteros in the tourist areas. As I said before, that's an unfortunate result of tourism. But it's hardly like all Cubans are greedy hustlers that spend all their time begging tourists for money. It's also the case that a lot of Cubans are just very friendly and wouldn't take something from you if you offered... As this tourism (http://www.cubagrouptour.com/information/cuba/jineteros/) company's site says:

"Refreshingly a majority of Cubans aren’t in this game and feel extremely ashamed about their fellow compatriots that are. Like people everywhere, they would feel very uncomfortable about asking for money from somebody they have just met. Most Cubans are very honest and generous people who are delighted to meet a foreigner with no interest in their money at all."

I've come to the conclusion that you guys just read what you want. the story emphasizes on a NON JINETERO some random guy I met in the outskirts of Havana, in a non tourist area. I happened to bump into him and he chased me for 10 blocks. I live in Los Angeles, you think I don't see homeless people and beggers? I grew up in Mexico City.. you don't have to tell me about the dominican republic. I've seen third world country poverty and the failures of the system like you guys have.

So i must be crazy for saying that in Cuba is the same... well is not. and I'm not criticizing, its an observation in hope to open up discussion so that we can understand more the issues.

FUCK! why do i have to always over explain my self. :crying: